Whatever you have made of Ralf Rangnick's relatively short spell in charge of Manchester United, you cannot knock the German for his levels of honesty.
The former RB Leipzig boss, who has now been at the helm for 21 matches in all competitions, has used his time with the media, both before and after games, to provide honest insight into what he has seen during his first few months at Old Trafford and what needs to happen to ensure his successor can be successful when stepping into the ring. His honesty has been both refreshing and eye-opening.
During a period where the ongoing silence from the Glazer family is deafening, Rangnick has picked up the baton as chief spokesperson and revealed several much-needed home truths about where the club has been going wrong and is still continuing to do so. His press conferences, unlike Jose Mourinho's and Louis van Gaal's, have hardly been box office, but they have been insightful and packed with honesty.
One example is his recent admission about where United have been going wrong in the transfer market and why the club must invest in adding 'physicality' to the team this summer. It has been United's downfall on umpteen occasions this season and Mourinho addressed the same issue more than three years ago.
"This team doesn't lack technical players, it needs more physicality," Rangnick said following Saturday's draw with Leicester City. "Whenever there was body contact, too often we were second best. This is something we have to get better at for the rest of this season but even more so for the next season."
Already, Rangnick, even though he won't be in charge of looking after the team beyond the end of May, is giving United pointers on what they must address this summer, in a bid to try and put them back on the road to success. You might think that it does not take a brain surgeon to pick apart United's most glaring weaknesses, but the fact that a senior figure within the inner walls of Old Trafford is prepared to speak the truth, especially publicly, has been vitally important.
As well as that, Rangnick has also shown a no-nonsense side to his management style, refusing to be a friend to the players, instead showing them exactly who's boss. He has dropped them when underperforming and not pulling their weight, something Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, certainly towards the end of his tenure, was not prepared to do.
Harry Maguire, who Solskjaer should have dropped following the 5-0 defeat to Liverpool back in October for the following game with Tottenham Hotspur, has been dropped on occasions, as has Marcus Rashford. It takes a brave manager to drop the club captain, regardless of the club you're in charge of.
But although it remains to be seen what the specifics of Rangnick's consultancy position will be, with United remaining tight-lipped on what the German's day-to-day duties will be in his upstairs role, they need to make keeping hold of him one of their priorities this summer. Reports in the national media have claimed that Austria are interested in appointing the 63-year-old as their next manager, but they have denied holding talks with him.
Whether there is any cast-iron truth to these reports or not, United's hierarchy should pay very close attention to all of the good things that Rangnick has done since being asked to pick up the baton from Solskjaer four months ago. He has, without any shadow of a doubt, hung the Glazers out to dry over their recent failings. He has also exposed some of the players for their underachievements.
To be fair, however, Rangnick would have known what he was letting himself in for when he shared his pitch to the interview panel back in November. That is because he had called United out for failed dealings in the transfer market in the years that followed Sir Alex Ferguson's departure in 2013.
Speaking back in 2019, Rangnick said: "Since Sir Alex left they were underperforming. They haven’t won the title since he left.
"At any club, if you cannot get the right players, then you should at least not sign the wrong ones. You are in trouble if you do that in one or two or three consecutive transfer windows.
"Club building is about building the right squad by transferring the right players away and having more than 50 per cent success rate of bringing in the right players. Then you must have the best possible coaches to develop these players."
'Club building' is a term Rangnick has referred to several times since getting his feet under the table at Old Trafford. Surely United need to do everything within their power to make sure he remains in place whilst the first building blocks are pieced together?
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